The Art of the Deal (episode)
The Art of the Deal is the thirteenth episode in Season 3. Sypnosis Storyline Michael and Lincoln chase Whistler down the streets of Panama. After appearing to lose them, Whistler phones Gretchen to come and pick him up. However, Lincoln finds him and subdues him, and Michael calls Gretchen about the exchange. Back at Sona, Sucre pays the price for the escape and gets horribly beaten up. When he still refuses to divulge any details, he is forced to dig his own grave and then lie in it while the guards start to bury him alive. The general tells them to stop it as they reach his head, but then Michael calls to Sucre's cell phone. Sucre proves his loyalty to Michael as he refuses to trick him over the phone to reveal his location, resulting in his own imprisonment in Sona. Michael asks Gretchen to come to a public place for the exchange. She tries to persuade Michael to join the Company because of his ingenuity and the fact he is the first person to break out of Sona. A sniper on the roof is ready to shoot Lincoln. Michael coldly declines and reveals to Gretchen that the stunt is just to ensure that LJ and Sofia are alive and safe and Whistler is indeed in their custody. They quickly slip away from there and set up another exchange point. Before leaving, Michael tells her that after the exchange is over, they will be spending some "quality time", indirectly reminding her of the warning he had given her in Sona. The exchange place this time is in the first floor of a public museum. Gretchen has to get rid of her weapons in order to get past the metal detector. LJ snickers. When Gretchen asks what's funny, he confidently proclaims that she's definitely not smart enough to outwit his uncle Michael. The exchange happens and Sofia soon learns that she was being used when she gets Gretchen to admit to everyone that there are no coordinates to exchange, it was all a farce. Sofia is upset and tries to leave Whistler. Michael smashes the emergency seal on an exhibit and causes the alarms to go off, as he knows that The Company's men would have all the exits guarded (and tells Gretchen that he knows about that before switching on the alarm). Everyone walks out. At the exit when they are frisked, guards begin to doubt Whistler and Gretchen after they found an arrow tip that Michael minutes ago took from souvenir store and unnoticed put it into James' pocket before the exchange. One of Gretchen's men tries to shoot a guard, but another guard interjects and in the commotion Sofia is shot. Michael quickly heads to the car to retrieve a gun so that he can kill Gretchen. He almost shoots her but hesitates and is distracted by a guard who shoots aimlessly at Gretchen's van. Lincoln wants to help Sofia, but LJ tells him that he had better to leave and says that he (LJ) will take care of Sofia himself. McGrady and his dad are stopped by police 200 km west from Colombian border. Policeman becomes suspicious of the father's behaviour. He orders him out of the truck and look in the back, only to find fertilizer. McGrady escapes re-capture by hiding in a secret compartment behind his seat. Later, they reach home and McGrady is shocked to find his family waiting for him in Colombia. This part of the episode, has a mistake because in fact, it is impossible to travel to Colombia from Panama by car. There are no roads connecting both countries, as there is the "Tapon del Darien" jungle between them. As McGrady and his father arrive in Colombia, it says that they are in Acandi, but it is also impossible to reach Acandi by car. The scene seems to be taken in some Mexican town. Meanwhile, with Lechero dying Sona is in anarchy. T-Bag enlists Bellick to save Lechero from the mob - but in fact T-Bag just uses Lechero, falsely promising that a guard told him that under the regime of the new general, if Lechero arranges for $50,000 to be brought to Sona for said guard, the guard will let them escape. After this has been arranged, Lechero learns the truth and as he's dying anyway, tells T-Bag to kill him quickly - to suffocate with pillow. T-Bag agrees. Sister Francis brings the money, and reminds T-Bag of her affection for him ever since he protected her several episodes earlier after T-Bag tells her that he will find her if she escapes with the money. T-Bag makes a speech in the yard denouncing Lechero's rule and distributes some of the money to the inmates to gain their trust, but keeps most of it for himself (in Sister Francis' trust). Sucre is then thrown into Sona just in time to see inmates cheering for T-Bag. Mahone is sipping club soda in a bar opposite to a bank. He tells the barman that he is "between jobs" and that that he hopes that something is "just around the corner", while looking at the time on the bank's clock. Later, Whistler walks in to meet Mahone and gives the barman $100, paying for Mahone and telling the barman to leave them alone. Mahone is impressed by the money, so Whistler says that she (pointing towards Susan who is talking on the cellphone outside) manages the money. Mahone warns Whistler that Gretchen is the "weak link" in the whole chain and that Michael will eventually hunt all of them down one by one, if Gretchen has indeed done what they believe she did to Sarah. Whistler ignores this and asks Mahone if he's joining them or not. Even with Michael after them, Mahone agrees to work for the Company and they exit the bar. While Michael and Linc wait outside the hospital for Sofia, LJ gives Michael the origami flower Sara had with her before she died, as we are reminded in a flashback. LJ tells them that Sofia had some information about Whistler in a briefcase in her apartment. Lincoln downplays this information, but it only serves to fuel Michael's desire for revenge. Michael and Lincoln break into Sofia's apartment and discover information on a Jason Lief, a person supposedly in connection with Whistler. Michael and Linc decide to part ways - Linc is seen with Sofia in the hospital as Michael sets out to get Gretchen. The season closes as Michael drives along a highway in Panama, with the origami rose and Lincoln's gun beside him, seeking revenge against Gretchen for "murdering" Sara. The closing montage for the season features the song 'Llorando' ('Crying') sung by Rebekah Del Rio. Appearances Main cast *Fernando Sucre *Michael Scofield *Lincoln Burrows *Lechero *Gretchen Morgan *Sophia Lugo *Brad Bellick *James Whistler *Alex Mahone *Theodore "T-Bag" Bagwell Guest cast *Luis Gallego *Alphonso Gallego *Rafael *Mestas Uncredited *Sara Tancredi Locations *Sona *Fox River Trivia *This marks the second time that Lechero has been betrayed by a member of his gang. This time it's T-Bag, who betrays him and eventually kills him. This first time was by Sammy in Dirt Nap. *T-Bag is the first main cast member who kills another main cast member, Lechero. **This marks the only time, that T-Bag, who is a murderer himself, kills another murder. *This marks the first episode in which 2 prisons appear, something which will later happen in Breakout Kings. *This marks the only time that a Prison Break finale doesn't involve a direct or indirect kill by Sara Tancredi. (Westmoreland died in Fox River; this can arguably be credited to Sara for leaving the infirmary door open.) The others are William Kim (shot by Sara), in the Season 2 finale, and Christina (shot by Sara), in Season 4. *T-Bag would start the riot, which will led the inmates going wild and thus resulting in the escape from Sucre, T-Bag and Bellick and off-screen deaths by T-Bag. **T-Bag may have used Lechero's gun, which he had stolen. It's possible that T-Bag used it in the riot and may have killed some CO's in Sona with it and escaped. *This is the only time that Lechero's cell isn't clean. *Bellick arguably carries some responsibility for the death of Lechero, since he did not make much effort to stop T-Bag from carrying it out. *This is the third time that neither Michael nor Lincoln used the word "escape" throughout the entirety of the episode. Airdate *The UK airdate was 25 February 2008. External links *The Art of the Deal on Wikipedia *The Art of the Deal on www.imdb.com *Filming Location Category:Season 3 episodes